MEMORANDUM AND ORDER Pending before the Court is the government’s motion (DE 147), made pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 32.2(c)(1)(A), for an order dismissing the Verified Petition filed on behalf of Nalin Patel (“Nalin”), Neepa Vina Investment LLC (“Neepa”) and DNA Hotels, Ltd. (“DNA Hotels”). As explained, infra, the motion is granted in part and denied in part.BackgroundHema Patel (“Hema”), spouse of Nalin, stands convicted, based on her June 7, 2018 plea of guilty, of Alien Smuggling for Financial Gain in violation of 8 U.S.C. §1324(a)(2)(B)(ii). In a Preliminary Order of Forfeiture (“POF”) entered on June 20, 2018, Hema consented to the forfeiture of a series of assets listed in the POF.1 Those assets fall into three broad categories, viz. (1) real property2 (2) bank and other monetary accounts and (3) other items of personal property.Title 21 U.S.C. §853 (n)(2) provides that “[a]ny person, other than the defendant, asserting a legal interest in property which has been ordered forfeited to the United States pursuant to this section may, within thirty days of the final publication of notice or his receipt of notice under paragraph (1), whichever is earlier, petition the court for a hearing to adjudicate the validity of his alleged interest in the property. The hearing shall be held before the court alone, without a jury.”A Verified Petition was filed by Nalin, DNA Hotels, and Neepa (together “claimants”) on July 19, 2018, less than thirty days after the POF was signed, requesting the Court “to adjudicate [their respective interests] in [certain] properties] which are subject to the Preliminary Order of Forfeiture…issued on June 20, 2018.” (Verified Petition (DE 108) at p. 1.) In asserting those claims, claimants proffer:3As to La Quinta Inn (POFb)(1) Nalin owns “99 percent of the assets of DNA Hotels” which, in turn, owns the La Quinta Inn located at 128 N. Expressway 77, Raymondville, Texas. As evidence of the latter, Nalin provides a photocopy of a recorded warranty deed dated September 27, 2007 listing DNA Hotels as sole grantee. Nalin further avers that the “other 1 percent of the assets [of DNA Hotels is] owned by Neepa…of which [he] is the only member”; Hema is reported to have “no interest in DNA Hotels, Ltd. or the [subject] real property.” (See Verified Petition at
1, 3(a) & Ex. A.)As to the Texas Inn (POFc)(2) As to the other contested parcel of real property included in the POF, i.e the Texas Inn located at 118 N. Expressway 77, Raymondville, Texas, that property is reported by Nalin to be owned by Neepa in fee simple as purportedly evidenced by Exhibit B attached to the Petition, that being a photocopy of a June 3, 2004 recorded warranty deed to another parcel located in Raymondville, Texas represented by Nalin to be the Texas Inn. (See Verified Petition at
